Tom Joyner Foundation Names Winners of the Fine Arts Scholarship

(DALLAS – April 11) The Tom Joyner Foundation announced the winners of the four 2015 Fine Arts Scholarship recipients who are currently attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

The TJF Fine Arts Scholarship Program provides four (4) deserving students at HBCUs a $500.00 scholarship from the Foundation. The program is funded with money from a portion of the proceeds from the art sales on the 2015 Tom Joyner Foundation Fantastic Voyage. As part of the application, students submitted a 250-word essay on “How Art Can Make a Difference in All Communities?” Students also submitted a link to a sample of a piece of artwork, including the name of the piece, the medium and the inspiration behind the work.

This year’s winners are:

Alexandria Carmichael, senior, computer science/visual arts major, from Hope Mills, N.C., Fayetteville State University. She was recognized for work, “Cups of Confusion,” a nearly six-foot tall sculpture made from Styrofoam cups. In her essay, she wrote that art “creates a timeline for the community’s culture and adds history to the community that was common at that time.”

Jamar Hawkins, senior, theatre-technical major, from Houston, Texas, Texas Southern University. His work, Sandra, is a painting that shows the costumes he designed for a dance that paid tribute to the Sandra Bland case. Hawkins, an aspiring costume designer, wrote, “Art has no race, color, specific identity, or belongs to any group of people because it is simply an imitation of life.”

Tiffany Ford, sophomore, visual fine art major, from Albany, Ga., Albany State University. She was recognized for her work, “Madre Natura,” a creative sculpture of a nude woman. Ford, who hopes to open a school to teach ceramics, wrote, “Art brings social change through self-expression by uniting communities and encouraging tolerance towards cultural differences.”